Countdown
by thewhitewolfpack
Summary: What would you do if you knew how long you had left on this earth? Try to find out who wants you dead, of course. With only days to live, one of our heroes has to race against the clock, literally, while trying to find answers. Let the 'Countdown' begin. Clint!Whump Team!Whump
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Avengers. Can't stop a girl from dreaming a little bit, though.**

**A/N: New story time. I'm taking a break from "Behind Enemy Lines" for a bit, mostly because I wanted to put something fresh out there, and because it seems no one was reading that. Thus "Countdown" was born.**

**Enjoy the first chapter.**

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Chapter 1

The constant ticking brought him from his sleep, growing louder and louder as if in a confined space. He opened his eyes. Slowly at first, blinking a few times to let his sight adjust to the dimness.

He lay on a cold dirt floor, his hands and feet in chains. A single door stood opposite of his position, one single window in the middle of it.

He didn't remember where he was and tired to think of anything, but he was brought from his thoughts when the door creaked open and a very large man in a white suit entered the room.

"Ah, I see my guest is finally awake." he spoke in a low voice. "I hope you are finding your accommodations, satisfying enough?"

He looked at the man, holding a chained hand in front of his eyes to shield the light that came in from the outside. Then he tried to ask, "Wha-?" because that was all he could muster.

"My dear friend, that is not of importance. What is, though, is that you do what I tell you." the large man paused. "Before your time runs out completely." The man pointed a long finger at the man's chest, who was still laying of the ground. And for the first time, he looked down.

His bare chest was covered with a thin, form fitting vest, on it red numbers were counting down.

167:45:23...167:44:56...167:43:21...167:42:59...

"Just a reminder, from me to you. And so you don't try any thing funny," there was a pause before a sharp pain went through his arm. He looked down and saw the large man he'd been talking to, or was talking to him, as a needle was pulled from his upper right arm.

His eyesight became blurry, feeling heavy and limbs like wet noodles. The world around him began to spin and turn black at the same time. But before his world caved in, he heard the man speak five words: "Until next time, Agent Barton."

And then he knew no more.

-AV-

His eyes shot open and he gasped for air. He was laying on a carpeted floor, in what seemed to be an office. He sat up and felt a warm, sticky substance on his arms and looked down to see that he was covered in glass. Then his turned around and saw that a fairly huge window, without glass panes.

He began to check himself for injuries. Other than the cuts and bruises he sustained, he appeared to be fine. He stood unsteadily to his feet, just a voice sounded in his ear.

"Barton, report?"

He couldn't find the words to say, his mouth felt cottony, and dry. His throat rough and scratchy.

"Hawkeye, do you copy?" a voice asked, but sounded different from the first. Still he didn't say anything.

"Clint, if you don't answer me right now, I'll-" He smiled at this before somehow finding the words to answer. "I copy," It took a lot of strength to say those two words, he was already winded.

Someone sighed. "What happened? We lost contact with you," that sounded like the Cap.

"Wish I knew, Cap." Clint quietly said, not loud enough for anyone else to hear.

"Are you alright?" he heard Natasha question, worry traced her always steady voice. That's when he heard it.

_Tick._

_Tick._

"Shut up," he whispered.

_Tick._

_Tick._

_Tick._

"Stop it," He said through clinched teeth. He thought he heard someone call out to him, but he wasn't sure.

_Tick._

_Tick._

_Tick._

_Tick._

He couldn't take it anymore. He ripped off his quiver that was attached to his back, a few arrows still inside. He began to discard his gear he needed for a battle and his shirt, until its was scattered around him on the floor.

There, on his chest, a vest attached to his body with red numbers winding down. 166:23:46...166:22:39...166:21:58...

He swallowed a lump that was in his throat before saying into his comm, "Guys, we have a problem."

-AV-

Clint Barton sat on the edge of a bed in the medical ward of the Avengers Tower for what felt like hours. Doctor Bruce Banner and Tony Stark were currently examining the vest and its human target, poking and prodding the agent with needles and wires up to the point of him feeling like a pin cushion.

"Fascinating," Banner marveled. "This piece is unlike anything I've ever had the pleasure of setting my eyes on."

163:45:23...163:44:58...163:43:37...

"I've never seen anything like this, either." Tony said as he looked down at a clear tablet and jotted a few things down. "Nothing like this excises yet."

"I don't care what it is, I just want it off." Clint groaned.

"I'm afraid we can't just take something like the off, Barton." Banner said to the agent. "We need to do a lot of research. One wrong move and-"

"BOOM!" this made everyone look at Tony who hadn't glanced from his own work. Feeling the rooms eyes on himself, he questioned as he looked at everyone, "What?"

"Nothing. Regardless, we don't know what this is yet."

"Isn't there something we can do right now?" Natasha asked from her seat near the back of the room where she wasn't in anyone's way.

"Right now, no. There isn't."

"So I'm stuck in this thing?" Clint pointed to the vest that was still counting down.

Tony and Bruce gave the archer a sad smile. Clint sighed and looked at his hands. "Can I go now?" he asked in a low voice.

"Yeah, we'll let you know anything as soon as it comes up." Tony said.

Clint got off the table and grabbed the black t-shirt that was hanging on the end of the chair near him. He slipped it over his head and walked out the door, saying as he left, "You know where to find me."

Tony and Bruce didn't pay attention, as they had gone back to their work figuring that he wasn't talking to them.

Natasha knew where he was going. Where he always went when he needed to clear his head after a tough mission. She figured he'd need some time alone, but that's the last thing she wanted to give him. Seeing that the doctor and billionaire were busy searching for answers, she left the room without a word, lost in her own thoughts.

-AV-

In the command room, Director Nick Fury talked with Captain Steve Rogers. They had been going back and forth for over an hour now, neither one backing down from the other.

"So, let me get this straight, Captain." Fury said to the other man in the other wise empty room. "while you and the rest of the team were on the ground fighting who-knows-what, Agent Barton was on top of the office building watching your backs?" Agents Barton and Romanoff, Stark, Rogers and Banner were responding to a drone attack in East New York. Thor was back in Asgard meeting with his father.

"Yes Sir."

"And while he was watching your backs, you lost communication with him."

"That is correct, Sir."

"And, stop me if I'm wrong, you didn't hear from him for 28 minutes." the Director stopped and looked at the Captain out of time. "Do you know what could've happened in those 28 minutes? One of our top Agents was compromised and no one thought to find out where he was? Namely you, Rogers."

"Sir, with all due respect, I had a job to do on the field." Steve said boldly. "Clint is more than capable of handling himself if any-"

"If anything went wrong?" Fury yelled cutting Steve off. "The Avengers are a _TEAM. _Your suppose to have his back, just like he had yours out there."

"I have this teams back, sir." Steve said getting closer to the director.

"I'm not so sure about that, Captain." Fury said in a low voice. "How do you expect them to follow you into battle, if they can't trust you with their very lives?"

Steve Rogers was taken aback at this. He had led many people into war, them knowing that they may not make it out alive. Not one of them complained. His best friend, Bucky followed him without question and ended up paying the price for it. Even if it did happen almost 70 years ago, it still hurt. Maybe this team shouldn't be following him. Maybe he was the wrong man for the job.

"Sir, you and the Captain are needed in Doctor Banner's lab right away." an agent said appearing in the door way. Director Fury left without saying a thing, the quite captain reluctantly following behind.

They made it to the lab in a quick amount of time, wondering what was so urgent. Tony and Bruce were huddled around a computer, eying something closely on the screen. Sensing they had company, the two men turned around. "Good, your both here." Stark said.

"What is going on, Tony?" Fury asked the man who was now rushing through a pile of papers. "We aren't sure," he said, not stopping from what he was doing.

"What do you mean your 'not sure'?" Fury said, his one good eye not leaving the man. Tony stopped his searching and answered, "Just watch,". At that, Banner pulled up a video onto a larger screen and the four men watched silently.

"_Greetings, Avengers." _the man on the screen said as the video started. His face and upper body was silhouetted in the dark, but they could hear his voice loud and clear._ "I assume by now, you've received word of Agent Clint Barton's 'predicament' for lack of a better term. And I'll inform you all now; don't waste your efforts researching the device. I invented it myself, and you'll only waste what little time your friend and teammate has left._

"_By the time you receive this video, 'Hawkeye' will have less than 7 days before the bomb detonates. If he is able to complete the tasks I will soon give him, the device will be removed. If not, well, use your imagination. If you attempt to remove the vest, it will go off taking one team member close to him with him. If he attempts to remove it, it will go off only taking his life. The blast is designed to be small, but forceful. There is only one way to discard the weapon I have built, but I'll save that story for a later date. If you make it that far._

"_I will be in contact with you in due time. This video will self destruct in 10 seconds._

"_One more thing: you might want to go check on your absent agents, because I assume they did not watch this with the rest of you. Pity. Could've saved one of them a lot of pain." _And then the screen with blank.

Suddenly two things happened at once. The computer that the video was shown on blew up in a small, yet powerful blast that knocked Fury, Steve, Bruce and Tony to the floor and into walls. And in the background they heard a single gunshot, coming from the top of the tower.

**Continue? No? I'd love to heard what you all think about this so far.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry this is so late and sorry this chapter is bad. At least, I think it is. I hate summers. Let me know what you think and how I can make it better. Review?**

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Chapter 2

10 Minutes Ago

"Have you ever felt powerless?" Clint asked Natasha when he heard her come through the door onto the roof of the tower. "Like there's nothing you can do, no matter how hard you try?"

"Yes," Natasha answered. "Back when I was in Russia before I started working for SHIELD."

"Its not a great feeling,"

"No. It isn't." The Black Widow walked closer to her partner and leaned on the rail with him, looking over the city that never sleeps. "But that doesn't mean you should give up."

"I'm not one to go down without a fight, 'Tasha"

"I know your not. And I'm going to be right by your side, all the way through this." Natasha smiled as she turned to face Clint. "You know-" a single gunshot sounded and the two agents dropped to the ground out of instinct. Clint looked over the edge of the building and asked Natasha, "Are you alright?" when he didn't get an answer he looked over.

Natasha was laying on her left side, her red hair covering part of her face. A small puddle of blood was pooling around the female agent's shoulder and Clint jumped into action. He looked her over until he found where the blood was coming from.

"C'mon, Nat." Clint said. He had his hand pressed firmly onto her shoulder, attempting to stop the bleeding. Just then the door that leads from an upper hallway to the roof opened. Steve glanced from behind the door, his shield in hand and saw his team members hiding behind a lower wall.

Another shot rang out. This time, closer to where the agents were.

"Barton!" Steve yelled from behind the door. "I'll cover you two!"

"Got it!" came a reply. Steve took a deep breath and jumped from his place. He raised his shield and raced the 30 feet to his friend, blocking three more shots that came the groups way. He knelt down and took in the scene.

Natasha was unconscious and Clint was holding tightly to her shoulder, where the bullet when through. Then the captain spoke. "Tony is waiting by the door, get Natasha and I'll watch you both from the rear." Clint nodded his understanding and picked Natasha in his arms. Steve yelled "go!" and Barton took off for the door. Steve was close behind them, ready to deflect any thing that came their way. The door opened, and there stood Stark and two medics who were ready to jump into action. Clint laid Natasha down on the waiting gurney and the two medics took off for the Medical Ward.

The door behind them was shut in the mist of all of that and then the three men followed suit. Clint began to head towards the Med-ward, but Tony put a hand on his shoulder, signaling him to stop. "She'll be fine. We need to talk." Tony almost never sounded serious, but when he did every one knew it was bad. The billionaires eyes and sad face convinced the archer and Steve, Tony and Clint made their way away from the roof.

-AV-

"Will someone please tell me what happened out there?" Director Fury fumed. He was in a room talking with Clint, Steve and Tony, trying to figure out the details of the days events.

"I'm not sure, it just doesn't make sense." Tony said from his seat on the table. He had a small trickle of blood running down the left side of his face from the blast in the lab and refused to get it looked at saying he was fine.

Steve questioned in a low voice, "Why would they target Agent Romanoff in the first place?" He was like Tony. No serious injuries from being blown into a wall, but he was favoring his back a little bit absentmindedly. No one bothered him about it though. The room was quite for a short time before Clint spoke up from his chair in a corner.

"Maybe they wanted to send a message." the three other men gave looks that said they didn't follow what the SHIELD agent was getting at. "Those shots came from between 400 and 600 yards, I couldn't find them. Only someone with special training can hit from that far away."

"So what your saying is,"

"Is that what ever this guys wants from me, has to be done." Clint said standing up as he answered the directors question. "or The Avengers will be taken out one by one."

The group discussed plans on how to handle all of this, but they didn't have much to go on until the person calling the shots got in contact with them again. A few minutes passed by when an agent entered the room, followed closely by a certain Asgardain and Bruce Banner.

"My Midgard friends!" Thor said walking into the room. "I come to assist in whatever I can."

"Its good to see you, Thor. We could use you." Director Fury welcomed the Asgardian. "Barton, you may go see what the doctors need," Clint got up from his seat and was almost to the door when he heard Fury call out "but get yourself cleaned up first."

Clint looked down and saw what the director meant.

Blood was drying on his arms and hands, still feeling sticky. He probably had some one his shirt and pants, but you couldn't really tell because those were black. He made his was to the Med-Ward, making a mental note to stop by the first restroom he saw.

Meanwhile, Nick Fury was bringing Thor up to speed. They were replaying the security tapes from the roof, trying to find out where the subject was shooting from, but they were too far away for them to get even a slightest clue of where to start.

Bruce Banner was going over a few things on his tablet when he asked Tony, "Stark, I need those Tox-screen results for Agent Barton."

"What results?"

Banner's eyes got big. "From the tests you were suppose to run when we were looking Clint over today." he sighed. "Don't tell me you didn't take them,"

"You never told me anything remotely close to that." Tony said. "I was busy running up a rough-draft on the vest-bomb-thing."

"Tony!" Bruce exclaimed while walking over to the billionaire. "We need to know what he was drugged with. If we don't make sure all of whatever was used is out of his system, it could-"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it." Tony said brushing the other man off. "Let's just go get it right now," and then he left for the Med-Ward, the doctor right behind mumbling under his breath alone the way. Bruce stopped and turned around when he noticed that Thor, Steve and Director Fury weren't following them.

"Your not coming?" he asked.

"Are we needed?"

"no, I guess not." he replied to the director.

"We will be here if we are," and then Banner left and raced after Tony.

Once he caught up with him, he adverted his eyes right back to the tablet he hadn't set down yet.

"Watcha' working on there, Banner?" Tony questioned.

"Playing Pac-Man,"

"Really?" Tony leaned over the other mans shoulder and sure enough he was dragging his finger across the screen, eating yellow dots while running away from ghosts. How fun. "Why are you playing a game?"

"Because, I'd rather not let the Other Guy out right now," he said is a low, calm voice.

"Why would he-" "Tony was cut off suddenly and backed against a wall when Banner got closer to him.

"You were careless eariler, Tony." Bruce said getting closer to Tony's face. "You made a mistake and it could cost-"

"Clint!" Tony yelled and rushed into the room that they were standing in front of, leaving Banner to follow behind him. Both men hulted and took in the sight that lay before them.

Natasha was on her knees, dressed in a set of scrubs and left arm in a sling, shaking an unconscious Clint in an attempt to wake him up.

"What happened?" Banner asked, going into "Doctor Mode".

"I'm not sure." Natasha started. "I had woke up not long ago, and Clint was in here and we were talking when he got quite. His eyes rolled into the back of his head," she nodded towards an overturned piece of furniture, "and he fell out of his chair."

Bruce felt the archers wrist and shook his head. "His pulse is too fast, and he's burning up."

"We need to cool him down, I'll get some ice packs." Tony said standing to his feet. He was in front of the door when Fury walked in, stopping him in his tracks.

"I'm afraid that will have to wait, Stark." Nick said. "We go call," a screen came out of the ceiling and flickered to life. The same man they saw before appeared in the same settings and lighting. The knew not who this was. The group tuned their attention to the man.

"_A building is set to be destroyed today e South Central Plaza at 2pm. In that building are documents from 1972. I need Agent Barton to get them for me." the man looked at his watch and continued. "Its 12:41pm right now, and if my math it correct, Barton's timer is ticking around 161 hours. Give or take a few minutes._

"_The office he will need to go to is on the 10th floor, room 1021C. They will be in ceiling. 4th tile from the left, in the back of the room. Keep you ears open and watch your step. Its been over 30 years since someone has been in there and I wouldn't want you to meet your end that way._

"_I'll be in touch," and then the screen went blank._

"we can't let Clint go in there." Tony started.

"Like heck you can't" came a rasped voice from the floor. Agent Barton was attempting to sit up, but Banner held out his hand stopping his movements. "You in no position to do anything right now, Barton."

"You know I don't have a choice," he said. Clint grabbed the nearest thing to him, a table, and used it to pull himself to a standing position. Since no one else would help him. "I'm going out there and getting what ever this psycho wants. Whether you like it or not,"

Clint Barton walked out of the room, slowly, and went to the weapons area grabbed his bow and quiver, and headed out. A wave a dizziness stopped him and he placed a hand on the wall to steady himself. He looked down and saw the faintness of the red numbers staring back at him.

160:57:40... 160:56:32... 160:55:58...

He knew he literally had no time to waste.

**I'm sorry. I don't really like how this came out, but I found it hard to change it. Review?**


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